psychosocial rehabilitation

Psychosocial Rehabilitation Student Name University Psychosocial Rehabilitation Introduction British Columbia has experienced many developments in mental health in the past decade. BC has managed to change its mental healthcare system through two processes: reorganization of mental healthcare services and delivery (Morrow, 2004), and a shift in the treatment and understanding of mental illnesses. The thesis of this essay states that the most effective method to psychosocial rehabilitation is to switch from one centralized psychiatric hospital to smaller home-based settings in communities throughout BC. Psychosocial rehabilitation has its roots in the principles of change, hope and recovery of people living with various mental illnesses. The regionalization of the mental healthcare system in BC has seen the change to a recovery-oriented model. This model places the patients at the center of intervention measures. There have been numerous benefits of the regionalization process. First is the reduction of stigma that psychiatric patients had been grappling with since the dark days when they were being treated no better than animals. Setting up care centers in communities has helped integrate patients with the various members in the community, thus, fostering acceptance. Regionalization has also created an large room for interest groups to champion the cause of persons with mental illnesses. Most importantly, regionalization of mental healthcare system in British Columbia has afforded patients with the much-needed freedom to choose when and where to access mental health services, and at their convenience. This report will also focus on a case study of psychosocial rehabilitation in British Columbia (BC). British Columbia has successfully transformed the mental healthcare system in the past decade and has recorded improved results. For this reason, this essay will use it as a case study. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Scholars have presented numerous definitions of psychosocial rehabilitation. However, these definitions revolve around one compelling concept: that psychosocial rehabilitation is a process that enables people with long-term mental illnesses to develop and explore social, leisure, professional and life skills which would give them the ability to achieve independence (Baron, 2000). There are three bastions of psychosocial rehabilitation. These are patient-centered plans, self-determination and hope. The purpose of psychosocial rehabilitation is essentially the improvement of the patients. Recovery involves the development of purpose and meaning in the patient’s life, even as the patient surmounts the devastating effects of mental illnesses. Recovery also forms the practitioner’s most crucial part. According to Brown and Donohue (2002), “the recovery model provides assistance to consumers as they serve to achieve their personal goals and ambitions in life. The community mental health center provides services that fo...